Here's another chapter for you guys! Hope you enjoy! (Sorry for any missed typos in this one; it's rather late.)
It had been about three weeks since their first mission together. Kaldur had helped heal Robin's knee a bit once they were back at the base using some techniques he'd learned in Atlantis. The injury wasn't healed completely, but Robin refused to stay down for more than a day or two. Since that time he'd been on plenty of missions with the team. The teens were beginning to trust him. But they could still see the distrust in their mentors' eyes when they looked at him.
When Barbara arrived at Mount Justice, Wally and Robin were tearing the place apart. Wally was dashing around the living room and picking up seat cushions. Robin, meanwhile, was rifling through the cabinets in the kitchen.
"…what are you two doing?" Barbara raised an eyebrow.
"Have you seen Robin's knife?" Wally was at her side in a moment, a pile of couch cushions in his arms.
"No. Did you lose it?" Barbara looked towards him and wondered how desperate he was getting. The boys must have been at it for hours if Robin had resorted to looking in the kitchen cabinets. (Well, who knows? Maybe he left it in there right next to the Captain Crunch and the pancake mix. That's where everyone leaves their weapons!) "I thought you had it with you last night. You used it to cut the wires on the security system."
"Yes, I know! I had it when we got back, too! I remember putting it beside my bed before I went to sleep." Robin slammed the cabinet doors in frustration. "God damn it, Saitou gave me that knife! Where the hell did it go?"
"Maybe when Kaldur gets back from Atlantis and M'gann gets back from that cheering competition, we can ask if they've seen it." Wally suggested as he dashed and put the cushions back on the couch.
Barbara raised an eyebrow. "She seriously joined the cheer squad at her school?"
"Not all of us can be star mathletes at Wayne Academy, Babs." Wally replied with a smirk. "What are you doing here, anyway? It's Saturday."
"Mount Justice has the best gym in the country." Barbara replied. "And what are you both doing here?"
"Where the hell am I going to go?" Robin asked with a grim chuckle.
"And I came to play videogames on a giant TV and eat junk food. Just like any other sensible teenager." Wally replied. He grinned and spread his arms wide. "Who will join me?"
"Sorry, man. I'm going to keep looking for that knife." Robin replied with a shake of the head.
Barbara declined as well and headed into Mount Justice's gym. It had been adapted to suit all the members of the team. When she looked, she saw a new addition. Roped bars hanging from the ceiling and a small platform. For the time being she ignored them and got to her usual martial arts practice. She could hear the sounds of Wally's loud, violent videogame being played. And after about an hour, Robin came in.
"Did you give up?" Barbara aimed a kick at the training dummy's head.
"It's around here somewhere. I'll find it eventually." Robin replied. His eyes went to the bars and he grinned. "The Bat is my favorite person in the world right now." He went over to a thin metal barrel and dipped his hands in, lighting dusting his hands with white chalk. The boy muttered to himself, "All my calluses are gone, so I'm going to end up bleeding like a bitch."
The girl stopped to watch him for a moment. So Batman had those put in for Robin? She watched him climb up to the platform, quick and nimble as always. He got on to the platform, a wide smile on his face. But as he looked at the bars waiting for him, the smile slid off of his face. He leapt anyways, arms outstretched towards the first bar. Robin grabbed it and swung in a high arch. He let go, spun in the air, and caught the next one under his knees. Barbara's eyes widened a bit. Robin obviously knew what he was doing. How long had he been able to do that, she wondered? They went on like that for a few minutes. Him practically flying through the air, her watching.
Finally, Robin let go of one of the bars and landed on his feet. He quickly fell to his knees and slammed his fist against the floor. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ZUCCO!"
Barbara jumped, alarmed. She walked over towards him slowly. "Robin, what's wrong?"
Robin sat back and glared at the floor. "When I used to do that, I felt on top of the world. I felt like I was flying. There was no better feeling."
She sat down beside him. "You were an acrobat, weren't you? That one kid. Dick Grayson."
The boy nodded once. There wasn't any surprise on her face. Barbara was training under the world's greatest detective. Obviously, she'd learned a few tricks for finding things out. "I would get so excited for shows…even just practice. But now…there's none of that. None of that happiness. None of that joy. All I see when I do that is my parents falling. Killing Zucco didn't do shit. I still lost my parents, my home, and now even the thing I loved the most just makes me sick to my stomach."
Hesitantly, Barbara set her hand on his shoulder. Ever since the night she'd first ran into him, she'd tried to research his identity as much as possible. The fruits of her labors gave her the correct name and his backstory. But it hadn't really prepared her for the more human side of him. It was easy to view the people she fought as just lunatics and crazies. None of them had ever really seemed like real people before. Barbara had never felt pity for the Joker, or for Freeze, or anyone else. But it seemed a bit different with Robin. Perhaps he wasn't just some schizophrenic kid with an unusually high IQ. Perhaps Robin was just what Batman said: an angry kid who had nowhere to go, no one to turn to.
"Look, Robin…" Barbara said slowly. "Maybe this is a sign that you should let it go. I know it's hard. But what's gone is gone, and can't be brought back." Her eyes met his bright blue ones. "But you've got a pretty fantastic thing going here. Some people would kill to work with the Justice League. You can start over. Batman already wants to take you under his wing. Hell, he shows more interest in training you than me!" There was a hint of bitterness in Barbara's voice. It was there and gone in a flash. "But the point is, you can have a brand new life here. It won't ever replace the family and friends you lost, but it might be able to help you deal with their being gone. Am I making sense?"
Robin nodded slowly. "You are. I actually do kind of like it here. You idiots are growing in me a little."
"I'll assume that's a compliment."
"It is."
There was a brief silence between them.
"Hey, Babs?"
"What?"
"Is this an appropriate time to try and make my move on you?"
"It can be, but making said move may be hazardous to your health."
"I'm willing to take that risk."
Robin leaned over and kissed her. Barbara returned the kiss, but smacked him on the back of the head when he pulled away. The boy chuckled and smirked at her. Barbara smirked back.
xxxx
The next day, Batman arrived shortly after breakfast with Artemis, Barbara, and Wally in tow. Just like the residents of Mount Justice, the other three teens were yawning and blinking sleep from their eyes.
"Today, you'll all be splitting off with your mentors and will be training here in the base." Batman told them. "We want to make sure you're ready for this next mission."
"What's the ne-e-e-xt mission?" Wally asked, yawning.
"We've looked into the liquid Fear Gas since your team discovered it. The League thinks what you recovered was a test batch, and was connected to a bomb in the other crate. If any of the vials were disturbed, the whole thing would destruct and erase the evidence from the League." Batman explained. "Losing his first batch only set the Joker back slightly. We've got reason to believe he has more, and this stuff is stronger."
"So what's he planning on doing with it?" Barbara asked.
"Release it into the water supplies of the major cities in the U.S." Batman replied.
"So what will you have us do?" Aqualad asked. "We are ready."
"The League will handle the most dangerous parts of this mission. Your role will be determined by how well you all do in your training. The better you do, the greater your involvement. But if one of you is not strong enough, then no one goes. Understood?" Batman told them, giving each apprentice a stern look.
They nodded. "Understood."
The other mentors arrived shortly thereafter, and broke off with their apprentices to assess their skills. Soon Barbara and Batman began to walk off, leaving Robin alone and wondering who the hell he was supposed to go with.
Batman looked back at him. "Are you coming?"
"Me?" Robin raised an eyebrow and pointed to himself.
"No, he means the other moronic acrobat." Barbara rolled her eyes.
"You weren't calling me that yesterday. But then again, I did have my tongue in your mouth for most of the day." Robin replied to her as he walked after them. Barbara smacked him on the back of the head, blushing furiously. Robin looked at what he had. Friends, for once. A sorta-kinda girlfriend. (Who was hot as well as smart.) A home. Perhaps Barbara was right; perhaps this was his chance to start all over. "Yo, Bats?"
"What?" Batman asked, glancing at him.
"Thanks, you know. For all this." Robin paused, suddenly feeling very sappy and awkward. To cover, he smirked and elbowed Barbara lightly. "Race ya to the gym."
"You're on, bird boy!" She accepted the challenge with a grin and fire in her eyes.
The two sprinted down the hall, laughing and hurling insults at each other. Batman watched them go and smiled. Just a bit.